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This chapter presents five case studies of various situations in which the governance structure of different exchanges has been at issue. A summary of the transformation (‘companization’) of the Stockholm Stock Exchange (SSE) into a for-profit firm is provided first. Next, a members' referendum that proposed to turn the Chicago Board of Trade (CBT) into a for-profit organization which was defeated is discussed. In the third part, a referendum that failed to transform the governance structure of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is described. In the fourth part, the establishment of Stockbrokers Botswana (SBB) and the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) is outlined. Finally, a debate at the beginning of 1996 about the governance of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is examined.

This chapter looks at the history of commodity exchanges trading eggs and dairy products. There was a time when eggs and dairy products were highly perishable and precious. And the traders who dealt in contracts related to those products were the comfortable “butter-and-eggers.” As the wheat market led to the creation of the Chicago Board of Trade, the butter-and-egg market led directly to the creation of the rival Chicago Mercantile Exchange as well as New York's own Mercantile Exchange. In 1872, dairy merchants split off from the New York Produce Exchange and founded the Butter and Cheese Exchange of New York. With the addition of eggs, it was named the Butter, Cheese, and Egg Exchange, and by 1882, the organization was renamed the New York Mercantile Exchange. In September 1919, the Chicago Butter and Egg Board was dissolved, to be replaced by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. This chapter discusses the demise of egg trading in the United States.

One of the most dynamic financial markets to appear after 1970 was the trading of derivatives. Prior to 1970 the fixed nature of both interest rates and exchange rates, because of government controls and central bank intervention, limited the need to cover risks in these areas. With the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system in the early 1970s both interest rates and exchange rates experienced rising volatility, forcing banks to turn to derivatives as one way to coping. Governments of countries also began relaxing the prohibition on the trading of futures contracts that had been introduced in the past as a way of coping with destabilizing speculation. The commodity exchanges responded to these opportunities by devising contracts that allowed users to cover risks in financial markets as had already been done for such products as wheat, copper, and, later, oil. Leading these developments were the Chicago commodity exchanges such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange but numerous contracts were also traded in the Over-the-Counter (OTC) market, directly between banks or through interdealer brokers.

This chapter considers the possibility that a futures market could be created for each of the food products that are currently not represented on U.S. commodity exchanges. These commodities are canola (rapeseed), cassava, fish, grapes or grape juice concentrate, honey, olive oil, salt, sheep and lambs, and tea. The idea that these commodities could be traded is not far-fetched. In fact, there are shortlists of products that have been considered for trade—most of which never came to be (again, at least not yet). In 1969, for example, there were plans for the formation of a Pacific Coast Commodity Exchange, which was to open in 1971 with coconut oil as its first contract. It never came to fruition. In addition, the former Chicago Mercantile Exchange's New Commodities Committee has, at various times, considered a variety of products as possibilities for futures contracts, from canned hams and carcass beef to coconut oil, corn oil, cranberries, cucumbers, lard, Scotch whisky, sheep, tomato juice, tomato paste, and wine.

This chapter examines the rise and fall of pork bellies as commodities traded on the futures markets. As a financial instrument, pork bellies were iconic. For many, the image of greedy traders as pigs at the trough was equally iconic. Until pork belly became a headliner on restaurant menus, few knew exactly what a pork belly was. Pork bellies created a viable market at a precarious time for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and they lasted for a half-century, until the market closed in July 2011. This chapter first explains what a pork belly is before discussing how trading of hogs and pork parts began. It then considers how novel manufacturing techniques—pioneered in Cincinnati—transformed the meatpacking industry, and how Chicago supplanted Cincinnati as Porkopolis. It also looks at the Chicago stockyards and particularly the “disassembly line” that rose up to slaughter and process hogs, pork belly trading during the Civil War era, the disapperance of bacon from supermarkets, pork belly's revival on American diets, and how technology drove pork bellies out of commodity exchanges.

This chapter focuses on the history of cattle trading on the commodities market. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange was born from butter and eggs, evolving by the late 1920s into a meaty livestock-oriented exchange, trading cattle, hogs and pork bellies, “fresh broilers,” and eggs. This chapter looks at the early cattle trade in New York, England's role in the development of beef trade in the United States, how the West became a primary location for cattle trade, the rise of Chicago's Beef Trust, and the inauguration of futures contract trading in live cattle on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.